A few weeks ago, I wrote a post talking about a weird charge on my bank statement[3] and how it’s important to review your statements every month. For many people, ourselves included, reviewing credit card and bank statements are a monthly ritual because we are aware of much identity theft is out there.

What we don’t often think about is less obvious fees and charges that companies stick on bills. I download my internet/cable bill from Comcast each month in order to fill out an expense report. When I looked at my bill, I noticed that it was a little higher than normal. About forty dollars higher.

I did some digging and here was the culprit:

Here’s the kicker – a technician never came out. I did call Comcast around that time to report slow and intermittent internet service and they told me that a local junction box was having problems. For about three or four days internet was essentially broken. I called a few times and they said it was that “junction box.”

Apparently, and they never told me this, they decided to charge me $40. I tried calling the 800 number but due to high call volume I was never connected. A twenty minute online chat left me with the feeling that it’s been resolved. Hopefully that’s the end of that but this is another reason why people hate cable companies[4].

For what it’s worth, Verizon did return our money back to us and hopefully Comcast will too.